Inmate deaths in Italian prisons over 2,000 in 12 years

08/10/2012

736 suicides reported

(see related story)
(ANSA) - Rome, October 8 - There have been 2,056 inmate
deaths in Italian prisons since the beginning of 2000, 736 of
which were suicides, a report published Monday by inmates'
rights group Restricted Horizons (Ristretti Orizzonti) said.
The average age of prisoners who die behind bars dropped to
38 years old from 44 years old in 2002 and 35% of deaths are
foreign inmates.
The dossier entitled 'Death in Jail' also reported that
"over the last 10 years, more than 30 cases of suspicious deaths
in prison were registered".
Overcrowding is believed to be more than partly responsible
for the high number of suicides in Italian prisons compared to
those in most other developed countries.
The country's jails are still bursting nine months after
the government's so-called 'Save Prisons' package aimed at
ending overcrowding that has contributed to the rising suicide
rate, inmates' rights group Antigone said recently.